I really love the explanations about “why not natural gas”, “why not biofuels”
And especially the use strictly of WWS (wind, water and sunlight).
You really should check it out
Some great maps and graphics!
They’re not the first to point us in the right direction. Renewable Energy Long Island shiowed the way last year with their Long Island Clean Electricity Vision.
Probably the most important thing to go along with this (you know- besides doing the right thing for our children, our planet and the future) is the infrastructure and manufacturing base that would be born right here of the necessity to make this happen.
That would be a boon to the economy, help pay to fix crumbling and in need of repair infrastructure, and create tens of thousands of jobs. It could start an entire industry that could supply the rest of the world by investing in and succeeding in doing something like this right here.
Of course we would like to see more of this or that in the list. Someone
has shown the way. We should not let the desire for (that creates waiting for) the “perfect” scenario to outweigh the rewards of the success that can be achieved by acting, and by acting now.
It’s very easy everybody! Not the undertaking itself, that is work – but we definitely can do it. What is easy is it can be done if we decide to do it.
That’s it! If we decide to do it there’s nothing else stopping us. The final details would get hammered out. The “oh too bad we can’t do it”‘s would mean we just find a different way to reach 100% that works for the problematic few percent.
Would it be a “failure” if we only got to 90 or 95% by 2030?
What if, by acting now we can do 150% by then, and export the rest to another state to our west to cut down on the fossil fuel pollution they create that blows our way?
I am hereby re branding this to be more in-line with reality, now that we know what it is.
Facts are coming out that it is actually the Anti- Wind energy groups claims of “wind turbine syndrome” and the like that may be causing the very illness they tell residents to expect, not the wind turbines themselves.
No one is saying that the symptoms that people may be reporting aren’t real to them. Now the proof is coming in on what may really be causing their symptoms.
Healthy volunteers, when given information about the expected physiological effect of infrasound, reported symptoms that aligned with that information, during exposure to both infrasound and sham infrasound.
The research showed a large group of HEALTHY people could be expected to report symptoms if they were told to EXPECT them, whether or not they were exposed to the infrasound! Exactly as would happen when anti-wind energy groups publicize what they say are the “dangers”.
I would hope any of the people truly suffering, will now turn their focus and go after the people who actually did manipulate them and made them feel ill.
Enlightening facts show how other factors related to the fearmongering can help certain persons in certain circumstances play into the scenario. Further studies have shown those especially vulnerable are when people’s personal beliefs were already leaning anti (confirmation bias), amongst other reasons. Still, I do not blame these people who are suffering at all, whatever the reason. The blame rests squarely with those irresponsibly(at best) and purposely(at worst) causing innocent neighbors these problems. From today on, media outlets that just let these groups say “whatever” and just repeat it, share the culpability, as well.
Like (now reelected) US representative Tim Bishop said about climate change at last summer’s Long Island Off Shore Wind Conference: ““All we can do is just provide people with the facts…and hope they accept those facts.”
Unfortunately, that’s a long waiting game and the detractors of renewable energy know that putting up these straw man arguments delay the onset of their deserved extinction. They dont actually care if they make residents sick, and the more the better for their cause, in fact.
Hopefully this argument is put to bed for good, preventing further harm to anyone.
The Town of Hempstead, New York’s Point Lookout Energy Park will be featured in a US Department of Energy webinar on Tuesday March 19, 2013 at 3pm eastern time.
Here’s the information from the department of energy website where you can join / attend this special webinar.
From Execution to Education: Town of Hempstead’s Project Energy
The Town of Hempstead, located on the western south shore of Long Island, New York, started its pathway to renewable energy demonstration and education with a simple 10 kilowatt solar photovoltaic (PV) project in 2005. Since then, through strategic partnerships and successful acquisition of grant funding, the town has completed an array of clean energy projects; many concentrated within the energy park in Point Lookout, New York. The various technologies at the energy park include a hydrogen refueling station powered by wind energy; various solar PV, solar thermal, and geothermal technologies; EV charging; a net-zero energy office; and an off-grid capable solar/wind shellfish aquaculture facility. This presentation will discuss the unique projects at the energy park, the town’s successes and challenges during stages of implementation and operation, and the budding educational opportunity for the community.
Presenter Tara Schneider graduated from Cornell University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science in natural resources. That same year, she began working for the Town of Hempstead, Department of Conservation & Waterways as a conservation biologist, working with various stakeholders to study and protect avian breeding populations. Under the leadership and guidance of Commissioner Ron Masters, Ms. Schneider began writing successful grants, resulting in more than $6 million in state and federal funding toward renewable energy projects for the town. Ms. Schneider is currently managing the town’s U.S. Department of Energy Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, an ambitious and multifaceted strategy that includes 17 distinct projects and more than 35 different contractors.
Empower Solar to discuss residential Solar Power at Lido Firehouse
Is solar power right for you?
Find out this Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at Lido Firehouse.
Neighbor,
You’re Invited! Join the LHCA in learning about the economic and environmental benefits of going solar.
________________________
What: Lido Homes Civic Association Monthly Meeting—Featuring presentation by EmPower Solar
When: February 13, 2013—7:30pm
Where: Lido Fire House
What: EmPower Solar will present to homeowners and business owners about the processes, multiple benefits, financing options for going solar.
Who: EmPower Solar is an Island Park based solar energy company that was founded in 2003 . EmPower has successfully installed over 500 systems for homeowners and businesses across the region, saving our customers money by eliminating electric bills.
Note: for emergency reasons, please do not use the parking lot at the Firehouse. Please park on the side streets or at the Middle School.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Sincerely,
Lido Homes Civic Association, Inc. & EmPower Solar
Tim Daniels of Deepwater Wind showed the current New York Offshore Energy Planning Map
On Tuesday Night, community leaders, environmental and Renewable Energy organizations and members of the general public met to discuss Renewable Energy Solutions for Long Island At the LI Clean Energy Forum: Navigating NY’s Energy Crossroads
Ms. Dix said “it’s time for the Long Island Power Authority to move away from plans to lock Long Islanders into dirty fossil fuel energy contracts, instead of investing in clean, safe renewable energy from wind and solar. We need both Gov. Cuomo and LIPA to act now to protect our clean energy programs and fast-track our transition to a clean energy future for New York”.
The importance of this meeting was to bring to the public what their role is in helping transition Long Island and the world at large into more renewable energy.
“We are stuck doing the same things because we have a fossil fuel based economy”. Of LIPA board’s recent decision not (necessarily) to buy into offshore wind she said
“change just got a 15 year jail sentence”.
Explaining our problem, she said “The job of LIPA is to provide affordable, reliable power- not renewable energy… the decision-making structure is wrong. These institutions are not elected but they’re making our decisions and may not have any energy or utility experience. We don’t have leadership that the people can rely upon.
She went on to add, “we need a new movement to move Long Island energy into the new millennium. “Silence is not golden – we need everyone’s voices to be heard”
She spoke of the dangers, destruction and pollution of Fracking and natural gas drilling. She said livestock is ingesting these FrackIng wastes and our food chain is threatened right now. She explained pipelines are proving difficult to stop because they are not approved on the local level, but on the federal level by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Thus, pipelines like the one being completed under the devastated Rockaways are happening against residents wishes, and continuing to be installed PRIOR to court proceedings to stop them.
Fracking Water use statistics from Grassroots Environmental Education
She says the best way to keep Fracking out is make sure we have plenty of renewable energy powering our state that we don’t need it.
Peter Olmstead of the Vote Solar Initiative spoke. He explained the US could easily reach 80% renewable energy by the year 2050.
“we need to attract investment and provide access to renewable energy”.
Another major item of interest he spoke of that “if your house isn’t good for solar maybe you could have a few panels on a community system elsewhere”. You know we here at All Our Energy love the Virtual Metering scenario! Why should you have to own a roof to have solar- 8 million New York City residents (and any other urban dwellers) would at least have access to solar empowerment!
He said getting competition into solar to create lower costs would be a key ingredient to more widespread solar usage, and is already happening.
Tim Daniels from Deepwater Wind, the company proposing the offshore Wind farm LIPA ignored, spoke next.
He said
“Wind could have been providing Long Island 10% of its energy had LIPA gone with their plan.”
In his view, New York had taken some steps towards renewable energy 10 years ago but since has stagnated and failed to follow through.
He said locally offshore wind could easily support 3000 MW of power for our area.
We met Ed Laborde of Power Up Communities, a new green energy campaign to help owners make their homes energy-efficient and more comfortable while generating good paying jobs and community benefits.
Ed Laborde of Power Up Communities.
Definitely check out their website!
Gordian Raacke of Renewable Energy Long Island presented about their 100% Long Island Clean Electricity Vision (CEV) study.
Their study shows that by 2020 it is technically feasible to meet 100% of Long Island’s residential electricity needs with Renewable Energy. It further shows by 2030 we could have 100 percent renewable and zero carbon electricity supply for all of Long Island. He said the only thing missing to make the transition is the political will. Read about it here:
Mr. Raacke has a great outlook on the situation when he says “it’s an exciting time to be alive when we can make the change to renewable energy”
I understand what he says: We have the power – you, I, we- can do it and we must do it together. He reminds us that the price of sunshine is still zero…
Gordian Raacke of Renewable Energy LI:”it’s an exciting time to be alive when we can make the change to renewable energy”
A great Q and A session followed questions included
whether Superstorm Sandy would have had any effect on offshore Wind Farm. Tim Daniels’ answer was no – offshore turbines are designed for North Sea storms which are category three winds. The Siemens turbines available to Deepwater wind withstand 120 MPH sustained winds and 150 Mph gusts.
Another question was about the environmental impacts of an offshore wind Farm. Adrienne Esposito replied “when thinking about environmental impacts you must think not about Wind Farm versus nothing, but Wind Farm versus dirty energy plant. No matter what, there’s going to be impacts. The clean energy impacts are so much less plus they dramatically reduce the pollution and climate change affecting the environment.
Another question was about the impending change in LIPA leadership. She said we should be poised to demand the right people are put in charge. We should also make sure they know we think they should not cut their renewable energy programs, and that they need to have more renewables in the mix. We need to let the LIPA Board of Trustees know we need to change.
There was some quiet speculation that LIPA may have left the door barely cracked open to revisit the issue and we should not give up yet.
A European immigrant living here said they’re shocked there is no policy against wasting energy.
Editors Note-
(This is an excellent point, as people in the US are under the assumption that “if they can pay for the electricity, it’s their business and that the ‘free market’ of prices will decide how much they use”. Unfortunately, they ARE NOT paying the actual costs of their usage when it comes to pollution, land destruction, and climate change- the “hidden costs” of dirty energy, which they are actually passing off to everyone else.)
They explained that in their home country, when you sell a house you must show the energy usage and efficiency that that house has, as just part of the process. hmmm…
Another attendee named John just made a statement that we must realize we are all addicted to fossil fuels and we need to change our own actions and attitudes.
After the proceedings, I was able to ask the representative from Deepwater Wind:
“If LIPA said “go” today, when would we have renewable energy?”
Answer: 2017- the same time as the new gas power plants would be coming online.
Gordian Raacke summed it up best: “if you think investing in renewable energy is important, then let your elected officials and LIPA know. Become involved! Let’s grab this chance to make it happen!”
Come to The Long Island Clean Energy Forum: Navigating NY’s Energy Crossroads. Tuesday December 4th 7:00 to 9:00 PM. This is what Long Island’s energy future should look like.
Come ready to learn your role in the push for clean energy…
So, what’s everybody doing next Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 7PM?
“At this forum, you will hear from a panel of well-respected individuals in the clean energy field, including Adrienne Esposito of Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment, Peter Olmsted of the Vote Solar Initiative, Gordian Raacke of Renewable Energy Long Island, as well as a representative from the offshore wind company Deepwater Wind.” –
Please join the Sierra Club and the Green Sanctuary of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock on the evening of Tuesday, December 4th, 7 to 9 pm for a discussion on Long Island’s clean energy future. The forum will be held in the Social Hall of the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock at 48 Shelter Rock Rd, Manhasset, NY 11030. You can find directions here: http://www.uucsr.org/find.asp
The Clean Energy Forum will provide a great opportunity to learn more about the current turning point in our energy policy and which path we need to take to achieve the future we want to see. This will be an action oriented discussion so
come ready to learn your role in the push for clean energy.
Find all the information and attendee registration here:
Looking down the road: A new poll shows the overwhelming majority of Long Islanders want Renewable Energy for their electricity needs.
In light of LIPA’s looming (and hopefully not “dooming”) decisions on what they are going to do about generating our electricity in the future, some important answers emerge about what Long Islanders – LIPA’s customers – think and want.
The questions show an overwhelming majority of Long Islanders, in the 77-90% range depending on the question, are on board with changing over to renewable energy.
The Poll By the Numbers:
87%- believe New York State should honor it’s commitment to using 30% renewable Energy by 2015 (we’re way behind!)
85% support offshore wind power 12 to 15 miles off the coast of Long Island
78% prefer that New York utilities build new renewable energy infrastructure instead of additional fossil fuel plants
78% think the Cuomo Administration should prioritize clean, renewable energy resources ahead of fossil fuels
79% the majority want it, even if it costs more-only 16% wouldnt pay more!
89% – say we should meet our renewable energy goals using clean energy from projects built in New York State – (as opposed to “outsourcing” our renewable energy opportunities to another state to develop, deliver and profit from.)
You can find the poll and results for yourself here:
Rally Tuesday, September 25, 2012 here at the Town of Hempstead’s Point Lookout Clean Energy Park Wind Turbine. Let LIPA know we want them to move into the future for their energy generation needs by investing in and delivering more renewable energy!
Thanks for the wake up from Sea By The City about this rally tomorrow:
Very important: LIPA is deciding how they are going to make electricity for the next 30-50 years. They are going to invest in some kind of power plants. They need to decide NOW.
WE need to TELL them to do it with clean, renewable energy: wind, solar etc.
A recent report showed that by the year 2050, if we go full on into replacing all old power plants with renewable energy now, while doing moderate energy efficiency, the U.S. will SAVE over 5 TRILLION dollars versus not changing to renewable energy, while creating hundreds of thousands of permanent jobs!
If we don’t, and stick with old dirty energy, it will COST US THE SAME to build the power plants, PLUS THEN WE WILL SPEND that 5 TRILLION ON FUELS(coal, oil, natural gas etc) to generate the electricity!!! And all we’ll have to show for that extra $5 trillion will be more pollution, more climate change, and more of all the other problems we have right now because of those things.
We need to change over, we need to do it now, and we need to say so!!
Our representation of what the proposed offshore wind farm will look like from the area beaches. Can you see the turbines? Well you won’t be able to, so we didn’t even bother to photoshop them in!
Two articles floating today you need to know about.
The new Sanya Skypump EV charging station. Your own energy independence, right in your own driveway?
Oooh, look at that VAWT*, so clean and beautiful, the sleek stylish look of the whole system… I’m going to have to tell the TV and the iPhone… there may be another in my life!
Welcome the Sanya Skypump.
The new “fuel pump” for your EV (electric vehicle).
Vehicles are the last bastion of dirty energy proponents saying : how are you going to move everything that moves our modern world and economy without fossil fuels?!! (funny, my autocorrect corrected “economy” to “ruining”- food for thought)
Maybe we don’t have all the answers just yet. Is that any reason not to take a couple hundred million dirty cars and trucks off the road as soon as financially and technologically possible?
Wouldn’t that leave plenty of decades worth of fossil fuels for airplanes? (whoops, they don’t need them anymore either- biofuels have recently proven an alternative for that.)
Wouldn’t the industry that it would take to deploy and maintain something like this to everyone employ tens of millions world-wide while making the world a better place??
Right now, your EV could be charging in your driveway, running on kilowatt hours produced from coal, doing nothing to get off of dirty energy.
With this, you just plug in and you have a truly clean driving experience with no dirty energy footprint.
Just think:
No fossil fuels to war over
Doesn’t enrich foreign dictators and other US detractors
No mega profits for natural resource pirates* to funnel through and disrupt worldwide economic and political systems with crazy political Bribes contributions.
Won’t pollute the
air
land, or
water
Notice that solar panels can also be attached to it’s infrastructure, backing up your wind generation!
Oh and of course the sun and wind don’t stop just because you’re not charging your car, and that generated energy can be used for
your other household uses
charging a second car, or
makes you money as you spin and sell pure, clean power onto the grid.
Now that’s truly giving you and I energy independence, right where you and I live.
If you and I had access to true energy inedependence, there’s no need for the government or corporations to “figure it out for us”.
Now I just have to see it in action to believe it! Oh we can do that here:
Anti-Wind Turbine Syndrome is real!
Yes, you’ve read that correctly.
I am hereby re branding this to be more in-line with reality, now that we know what it is.
Facts are coming out that it is actually the Anti- Wind energy groups claims of “wind turbine syndrome” and the like that may be causing the very illness they tell residents to expect, not the wind turbines themselves.
No one is saying that the symptoms that people may be reporting aren’t real to them. Now the proof is coming in on what may really be causing their symptoms.
The research showed a large group of HEALTHY people could be expected to report symptoms if they were told to EXPECT them, whether or not they were exposed to the infrasound! Exactly as would happen when anti-wind energy groups publicize what they say are the “dangers”.
I would hope any of the people truly suffering, will now turn their focus and go after the people who actually did manipulate them and made them feel ill.
You can find the report of the study by >clicking here<
This is the most recent of many scientific studies to debunk the fearmongering.
read more here: Wind farms don’t harm human health: 17 major reviews world wide of all of the available research by credible, independent groups say so.
Enlightening facts show how other factors related to the fearmongering can help certain persons in certain circumstances play into the scenario. Further studies have shown those especially vulnerable are when people’s personal beliefs were already leaning anti (confirmation bias), amongst other reasons. Still, I do not blame these people who are suffering at all, whatever the reason. The blame rests squarely with those irresponsibly(at best) and purposely(at worst) causing innocent neighbors these problems. From today on, media outlets that just let these groups say “whatever” and just repeat it, share the culpability, as well.
Like (now reelected) US representative Tim Bishop said about climate change at last summer’s Long Island Off Shore Wind Conference: ““All we can do is just provide people with the facts…and hope they accept those facts.”
Unfortunately, that’s a long waiting game and the detractors of renewable energy know that putting up these straw man arguments delay the onset of their deserved extinction. They dont actually care if they make residents sick, and the more the better for their cause, in fact.
Hopefully this argument is put to bed for good, preventing further harm to anyone.
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